Dunedin Diaries: Day 6

[February 6th, Waitangi Day]

Today is Waitangi Day in New Zealand — a public holiday, which used to be known as "New Zealand Day" until the 1970s. It is still a source of some controversy, mainly, I learn, in the north of the country. Some of the controversy apparently concerns the payments that Maoris receive from the state (in a similar way to, for example, German minorities in Italy). Opposition comes from some Maoris, who view the subsidy as patronising, as well as some settlers, who view it as unfair.

In the midst of these largely civilized disagreements, I read the following very sober leader piece in the Otago Daily Times today. Surely those arguing about multiculturalism in Britain could consider the words of former Prime Minister Norman Kirk:

It was Norman Kirk who promised, during the 1972 general election campaign, to create a national holiday set down on the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, on February 6, and to be called New Zealand Day. It was a step along the road of nationhood, the beginning of a self-conscious embracing of a bicultural entity in which each contributing culture was to be respected for its inherent qualities. As he put it in 1974: "We are not one people; we are one nation. The idea of one people grew out of the days when fashionable folk talked about integration. So far as the majority and the minority are concerned, integration is precisely what cats do to mice."

Tags: dunedin, newzealand, waitangi, waitangiday, travelling.

Labels: dunedin, newzealand, politics, racism, travelling